Saturday, August 31, 2019

Marvel

Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group Chen Ziqiang Wu Libin Lin Yingshuai Deng Linli Lim Yihao 2011/11/29 1. Why did Marvel file for Chapter 11? Were the proble ms caused by bad luck, bad strategy, or bad execution? We think that Marvel filed for Chapter 11 mainly due to its bad business strategy. Three o f its six b usiness lines, Trading cards, Stickers and Comic Books started facing the decline in sales after year 1993. There were two main reasons for this decline: F irst, these businesses increasingly had to compete with a lternative forms of child entertainment (mainly video games).Second, the decline in sales was driven by disappointed collectors who had viewed comic books as a form of investment and stopped buying them as company stopped increasing the prices. We believe that the company should have foreseen these events while performing a market research and forming a long- term business and financial strategy. The three unpromising business lines account ed to 61% of total revenues of a company in year 1995. At the same time, the company's financial strategy was based on highly optimistic business expectations and was not suitable for unfavorable turn of demand for entertainment products towards video games.Due to its high leverage (52%), the company was not able to serve all the debt in case of sharply declining revenues. It is obvious that the company did not anticipate the cha nge in customers' preferences and was wrong in prediction of market trends, focusing on cards, stickers and publishing business lines and leveraging itself. Moreover, in 1995 Marvin continued its leveraged expansion into entertainment cards b usiness – acquiring Skybox. This decision was extremely imprudent, as the company was already on the threshold of financial distress and should have sought for high growth pportunities to expand in order to boost its revenues instead of adding debt to buy business whic h produces non- demanded products. Operatin g ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Sales 115. 1 223. 8 415. 2 Cost of Sales 58. 2 112. 6 215. 3 Cost of sales/ Sales 50. 6% 50. 3% 51. 9% SG&A 21. 4 43. 4 85. 3 SG&A/Sales 18. 6% 19. 4% 20. 5% Net Income 16. 1 32. 6 56 Net Income/Sales 14. 0% 14. 6% 13. 5% 1994 514. 8 275. 3 53. 5% 119. 7 23. 3% 61. 8 12. 0% 1995 823. 9 383. 3 46. 2% 231. 3 27. 9% – 48. 4 – 5. 8% 1996 581. 2 372. 4 61. 4% 168 28. 9% – 27. 9 – 4. 8%As can be seen in the table above, Marvels operating ratios dropped dramatically. The cost of Sales/Sales rose from 51% in 1991 to 62% in 1996, together with the SG&A expenses/Sales rising from 19% to 29%. Additionally Marvels Net Income/Sales dropped from 14% to – 5%. Leverage ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Total Debt 355,3 324,7 Shares outstanding 97,7 98,6 102,6 Share price 5 12 26 Market value of equity 488,5 1183,2 2667,6 Debt/ D+E 23,1% 10,9% EBITDA 35,5 67,8 114,6 EBITDA/SALES 30,8% 30,3% 27,6% Int erest expenses 3,50 6,50 14,60 EBITDA/Interest 10,1 10,4 7,8 1994 585,7 103,7 16 1659,2 6,1% 119,8 23,3% 16,50 7,3 1995 934,8 101,3 12 1215,6 43,5% 214,7 25,9% 43,20 5,0 1996 977 101,8 4 407,2 70,6% 40,8 7,0% 42,70 1,0 Compare the management policy and the leverage ratios from that time together with its operating ratios, we believe Marvel made an extremely impudent move to acquire Skybox in 1995. While their operating margins where deteriorating and their leverage coverage ratio (EBITDA/Interest) where falling, they should have acquired a different policy. For all above stated reasons, we believe that the company's financial problems were caused mainly by bad strategy and poor management. . Evaluate the proposed restructuring plan. Will it solve the proble ms that caused Marvel to file Chapter 11? As Carl Icahn, the largest unsecured debt holder, would you vote for the proposed restructuring plan? Why or why not? A. ) We believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of th e problems that Marvel is facing. We also believe that the proposed restructuring plan will not solve the actual problems that Marvel is facing but only provide temporary relief to the company that is not sustainable.The proposed restructuring plan aims at providing liquidity to Marvel, lifting its debt burden and expanding its existing toy business. This is to be achieved by means of a recapitalization of the company through an emission of 427mn additional shares of common equity fo r a total value of USD 365mn. Additionally, the outstanding public debt of the company shall be retired with debt holders being paid in the shares that acted as collateral for their loans. With the proceeds of the emission and the lowered debt burden, Marvel is then supposed to acquire the remaining stake in ToyBiz, its toy manufacturer subsidiary.The recapitalization through the issue of 427mn new shares would solve the acute liquidity problems of the firm and the retirement of the firm’s public d ebt would lower the debt burden of the firm significantly. However, we believe that Marvel, under the proposed plan, would use its newly gained liquidity and flexibility to the wrong end. The acquisition of the remaining shares of ToyBiz would mean the continuation of an already ill- fated strategy that led to the current crisis.We therefore believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of the problems that Marvel is facing. More precisely, the plan offers a solution for the symptoms of the underlying problems only. It solves the liquidity problem that caused Marvel to violate some of its debt covenants and it also lowers the company’s debt burden. The core problem in our view, the business strategy of Marvel, is not abandoned but even pursued further. B. ) I would not you vote for the proposed restructuring plan.The shares being p ledged to their bonds as collateral are valued largely lower now than they were when the bonds were first issued , which result in t hey can only recover a fraction of the face value of their bonds in the form of equity now and a breaking even again seems questionable. This argument does not necessarily hold for the investors who bought the deeply discounted bonds but given the valuat ion of Bear Stearns it is questionable whether they will recover their investment either. 3. How much is Marvel’s equity worth per share under the proposed restructuring plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned?What is your assessment of the pro forma Financial projections and liquidation assumptions? Marvel’s current market price that is 2 dollars before restricting plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned. Table 1: Debt/Equity Ratio With the aim to calculate Marvel’s equity with the proposed a cquisition of Toy Biz we used DCF model. As Debt/Equity ratios are stable (table 1), FCFE is used to calculate the cash flow with the following assumptions. Table 2: Assumptions Assume: Discount Rate is equal to average Annual Return on Investments in Stocks from 1997 to 2001. *Annual Returns data is from histretSP. xls (http://pages. tern. nyu. edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/Inv2ed. htm) Table 3: FCFE 401. 7million/528. 8 million = 0. 76 Dollars per share. It shows that Mr. Perelman pays 13. 3% premium for new shares (he pays 0. 85 dollars per share). M arvel’s liquidation value Table 4: Marvel’s liquidation value The liquidation value is 424. 7million via Chapter 7. 4. Will it be difficult for Marvel or other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding company to issue debt in the future? The outstanding debt of Marvel has been downgraded by two rating agencies. In 1995 S and Moody’s downgraded the holding companies’ debt from B to B- .In 1996 Moody’s downgraded Marvel’s public debt. After that, Marvel had announced that it would violate specific bank loan covenants due to decreasing revenues and profits. Downgrading of debt increases the change o f default. After downgrading of debt, the process of probability to default increased substantially. The low credit rating indicates a high risk of defaulting on a loan and, hence leads to high interest rates or the refusal of a loan by the creditor. Investors realize this risk and therefore would demand a higher default premium. The increased default pre miums raised the cost of capital for the holding company.Given the increased risk premium and default possibilities, Marvel and other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding group would having more difficulties issuing new debt in the future. Debt holders and creditors where raising questions about the integrity on the judgment decisions from Perelman. Judge Balick approved Marvel did not discriminate unfairly against non- affecting creditor classes and provided it was fair and equitable to all classes. In reaction, a lawyer challenged the Bearn Stern’s conclusions and insinuated Bearn Sterns had multiple levels of co nflicts due to the contingency fee provided by Perelman.In the end even the Vice – Chairman of the Andrew group had to come with a statement to overcome all the negative sounds in the market. Anyhow it looks like Perelman’s reputation was damaged already. 5. Why did the price of Marvel’s zero-coupon bonds drop on Tuesday, Nov 12, 1996? Why did portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam sell their bonds on Friday, Nov 8,1996? On Nov 12, 1996, Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds fell by more than 50% when the spokesman for the Andrews Group announced the details of the proposed restructuring plan.According to the announcement, Perelman was to purchase, through Perelman- related entities, 410 million shares of newly- issued Marvel common for $0. 85 per share, 81% discount to the then prevailing market price of $4. 625. The newly- issued stock would not be subject to the pledge of Perelman- owned Marvel stock that otherwise secured the bonds. The announcement of this self- dealing transaction was in no way foreshadowed by Marvels' prior public statements and conflicted with the covenants in the indentures to the bonds.Therefore, the market prices of the bonds to decline suddenly as the collateral t hat supported the bonds. Perelman's Marvel common stock holdings pre- proposed transaction was diluted from 80% of the equity in Marvel to less than 16%. The terms of the prospective transaction required Marvel to increase the number of its outstanding shares to approximately 511. 6 million shares from 101. 8 million, diluting Marvel common stockholders and greatly reducing the value of the shares that were pledged as collateral for the bonds. So it greatly impaired and reduced the value of the bonds.In fac t, Marvel bondholders were divested of virtually the whole of their collateral while Perelman would maintain 80% ownership of the firm, purchasing the newly- issued shares at grossly sub- market prices while preserving the ability to write off Marv el's losse s against the reported income in his other consolidated enterprises due to the maintenance of his 80% ownership of the firm. The price of Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds dropped also due to it did not meet the expectation of the debt holders, who analyzed the b ond by fair value or future growth of the firm.In addition, the public would predict that the restructuring plan could not be settled down so that the firm would have a very uncertain future, even bankrupt. Thus, the price declined because a lot of debt holders could not bear the risk for getting nothing and sold out their debts. On Nov 8, 1996, Howard Gittis, vice chairman of Andrews Group, called Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments, two of the largest institutional holders of Marvel’s public debt, and asked them what they would like to see in a restructuring plan.Portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam decided to sell more that $70 million of Marvel bonds at a price of $0. 37 per dollar of fac e value on the next day. The main reason for selling by the managers is the conversation between Howard Gittis and them, which caused the managers considering the result of restructuring plan. They believed the plan would disappoint the public depending on their professional judgment. Perhaps, during this conversation, they got some detail information of the plan which proved the present value of Marvel’s bonds was overvalued.It gave the chance for them to avoid tens of millions of additional losses in diminished value that would have followed and suffer t he time they continued to hold the bonds already existing facts were revealed. On the other hand, the managers may worried about the downgrade of the bonds because the requirement of their portfolio allocation which constrained the percentage of the lower graded bonds or prohibited buying such bonds. Therefore, the bonds have to be sold to meet the requirement. Marvel Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group Chen Ziqiang Wu Libin Lin Yingshuai Deng Linli Lim Yihao 2011/11/29 1. Why did Marvel file for Chapter 11? Were the proble ms caused by bad luck, bad strategy, or bad execution? We think that Marvel filed for Chapter 11 mainly due to its bad business strategy. Three o f its six b usiness lines, Trading cards, Stickers and Comic Books started facing the decline in sales after year 1993. There were two main reasons for this decline: F irst, these businesses increasingly had to compete with a lternative forms of child entertainment (mainly video games).Second, the decline in sales was driven by disappointed collectors who had viewed comic books as a form of investment and stopped buying them as company stopped increasing the prices. We believe that the company should have foreseen these events while performing a market research and forming a long- term business and financial strategy. The three unpromising business lines account ed to 61% of total revenues of a company in year 1995. At the same time, the company's financial strategy was based on highly optimistic business expectations and was not suitable for unfavorable turn of demand for entertainment products towards video games.Due to its high leverage (52%), the company was not able to serve all the debt in case of sharply declining revenues. It is obvious that the company did not anticipate the cha nge in customers' preferences and was wrong in prediction of market trends, focusing on cards, stickers and publishing business lines and leveraging itself. Moreover, in 1995 Marvin continued its leveraged expansion into entertainment cards b usiness – acquiring Skybox. This decision was extremely imprudent, as the company was already on the threshold of financial distress and should have sought for high growth pportunities to expand in order to boost its revenues instead of adding debt to buy business whic h produces non- demanded products. Operatin g ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Sales 115. 1 223. 8 415. 2 Cost of Sales 58. 2 112. 6 215. 3 Cost of sales/ Sales 50. 6% 50. 3% 51. 9% SG&A 21. 4 43. 4 85. 3 SG&A/Sales 18. 6% 19. 4% 20. 5% Net Income 16. 1 32. 6 56 Net Income/Sales 14. 0% 14. 6% 13. 5% 1994 514. 8 275. 3 53. 5% 119. 7 23. 3% 61. 8 12. 0% 1995 823. 9 383. 3 46. 2% 231. 3 27. 9% – 48. 4 – 5. 8% 1996 581. 2 372. 4 61. 4% 168 28. 9% – 27. 9 – 4. 8%As can be seen in the table above, Marvels operating ratios dropped dramatically. The cost of Sales/Sales rose from 51% in 1991 to 62% in 1996, together with the SG&A expenses/Sales rising from 19% to 29%. Additionally Marvels Net Income/Sales dropped from 14% to – 5%. Leverage ratios Marvel Entertainment Group 1991 1992 1993 Total Debt 355,3 324,7 Shares outstanding 97,7 98,6 102,6 Share price 5 12 26 Market value of equity 488,5 1183,2 2667,6 Debt/ D+E 23,1% 10,9% EBITDA 35,5 67,8 114,6 EBITDA/SALES 30,8% 30,3% 27,6% Int erest expenses 3,50 6,50 14,60 EBITDA/Interest 10,1 10,4 7,8 1994 585,7 103,7 16 1659,2 6,1% 119,8 23,3% 16,50 7,3 1995 934,8 101,3 12 1215,6 43,5% 214,7 25,9% 43,20 5,0 1996 977 101,8 4 407,2 70,6% 40,8 7,0% 42,70 1,0 Compare the management policy and the leverage ratios from that time together with its operating ratios, we believe Marvel made an extremely impudent move to acquire Skybox in 1995. While their operating margins where deteriorating and their leverage coverage ratio (EBITDA/Interest) where falling, they should have acquired a different policy. For all above stated reasons, we believe that the company's financial problems were caused mainly by bad strategy and poor management. . Evaluate the proposed restructuring plan. Will it solve the proble ms that caused Marvel to file Chapter 11? As Carl Icahn, the largest unsecured debt holder, would you vote for the proposed restructuring plan? Why or why not? A. ) We believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of th e problems that Marvel is facing. We also believe that the proposed restructuring plan will not solve the actual problems that Marvel is facing but only provide temporary relief to the company that is not sustainable.The proposed restructuring plan aims at providing liquidity to Marvel, lifting its debt burden and expanding its existing toy business. This is to be achieved by means of a recapitalization of the company through an emission of 427mn additional shares of common equity fo r a total value of USD 365mn. Additionally, the outstanding public debt of the company shall be retired with debt holders being paid in the shares that acted as collateral for their loans. With the proceeds of the emission and the lowered debt burden, Marvel is then supposed to acquire the remaining stake in ToyBiz, its toy manufacturer subsidiary.The recapitalization through the issue of 427mn new shares would solve the acute liquidity problems of the firm and the retirement of the firm’s public d ebt would lower the debt burden of the firm significantly. However, we believe that Marvel, under the proposed plan, would use its newly gained liquidity and flexibility to the wrong end. The acquisition of the remaining shares of ToyBiz would mean the continuation of an already ill- fated strategy that led to the current crisis.We therefore believe that the restructuring plan can only solve part of the problems that Marvel is facing. More precisely, the plan offers a solution for the symptoms of the underlying problems only. It solves the liquidity problem that caused Marvel to violate some of its debt covenants and it also lowers the company’s debt burden. The core problem in our view, the business strategy of Marvel, is not abandoned but even pursued further. B. ) I would not you vote for the proposed restructuring plan.The shares being p ledged to their bonds as collateral are valued largely lower now than they were when the bonds were first issued , which result in t hey can only recover a fraction of the face value of their bonds in the form of equity now and a breaking even again seems questionable. This argument does not necessarily hold for the investors who bought the deeply discounted bonds but given the valuat ion of Bear Stearns it is questionable whether they will recover their investment either. 3. How much is Marvel’s equity worth per share under the proposed restructuring plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned?What is your assessment of the pro forma Financial projections and liquidation assumptions? Marvel’s current market price that is 2 dollars before restricting plan assuming it acquires Toy Biz as planned. Table 1: Debt/Equity Ratio With the aim to calculate Marvel’s equity with the proposed a cquisition of Toy Biz we used DCF model. As Debt/Equity ratios are stable (table 1), FCFE is used to calculate the cash flow with the following assumptions. Table 2: Assumptions Assume: Discount Rate is equal to average Annual Return on Investments in Stocks from 1997 to 2001. *Annual Returns data is from histretSP. xls (http://pages. tern. nyu. edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/Inv2ed. htm) Table 3: FCFE 401. 7million/528. 8 million = 0. 76 Dollars per share. It shows that Mr. Perelman pays 13. 3% premium for new shares (he pays 0. 85 dollars per share). M arvel’s liquidation value Table 4: Marvel’s liquidation value The liquidation value is 424. 7million via Chapter 7. 4. Will it be difficult for Marvel or other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding company to issue debt in the future? The outstanding debt of Marvel has been downgraded by two rating agencies. In 1995 S and Moody’s downgraded the holding companies’ debt from B to B- .In 1996 Moody’s downgraded Marvel’s public debt. After that, Marvel had announced that it would violate specific bank loan covenants due to decreasing revenues and profits. Downgrading of debt increases the change o f default. After downgrading of debt, the process of probability to default increased substantially. The low credit rating indicates a high risk of defaulting on a loan and, hence leads to high interest rates or the refusal of a loan by the creditor. Investors realize this risk and therefore would demand a higher default premium. The increased default pre miums raised the cost of capital for the holding company.Given the increased risk premium and default possibilities, Marvel and other companies in the MacAndrews and Forbes holding group would having more difficulties issuing new debt in the future. Debt holders and creditors where raising questions about the integrity on the judgment decisions from Perelman. Judge Balick approved Marvel did not discriminate unfairly against non- affecting creditor classes and provided it was fair and equitable to all classes. In reaction, a lawyer challenged the Bearn Stern’s conclusions and insinuated Bearn Sterns had multiple levels of co nflicts due to the contingency fee provided by Perelman.In the end even the Vice – Chairman of the Andrew group had to come with a statement to overcome all the negative sounds in the market. Anyhow it looks like Perelman’s reputation was damaged already. 5. Why did the price of Marvel’s zero-coupon bonds drop on Tuesday, Nov 12, 1996? Why did portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam sell their bonds on Friday, Nov 8,1996? On Nov 12, 1996, Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds fell by more than 50% when the spokesman for the Andrews Group announced the details of the proposed restructuring plan.According to the announcement, Perelman was to purchase, through Perelman- related entities, 410 million shares of newly- issued Marvel common for $0. 85 per share, 81% discount to the then prevailing market price of $4. 625. The newly- issued stock would not be subject to the pledge of Perelman- owned Marvel stock that otherwise secured the bonds. The announcement of this self- dealing transaction was in no way foreshadowed by Marvels' prior public statements and conflicted with the covenants in the indentures to the bonds.Therefore, the market prices of the bonds to decline suddenly as the collateral t hat supported the bonds. Perelman's Marvel common stock holdings pre- proposed transaction was diluted from 80% of the equity in Marvel to less than 16%. The terms of the prospective transaction required Marvel to increase the number of its outstanding shares to approximately 511. 6 million shares from 101. 8 million, diluting Marvel common stockholders and greatly reducing the value of the shares that were pledged as collateral for the bonds. So it greatly impaired and reduced the value of the bonds.In fac t, Marvel bondholders were divested of virtually the whole of their collateral while Perelman would maintain 80% ownership of the firm, purchasing the newly- issued shares at grossly sub- market prices while preserving the ability to write off Marv el's losse s against the reported income in his other consolidated enterprises due to the maintenance of his 80% ownership of the firm. The price of Marvel’s zero- coupon bonds dropped also due to it did not meet the expectation of the debt holders, who analyzed the b ond by fair value or future growth of the firm.In addition, the public would predict that the restructuring plan could not be settled down so that the firm would have a very uncertain future, even bankrupt. Thus, the price declined because a lot of debt holders could not bear the risk for getting nothing and sold out their debts. On Nov 8, 1996, Howard Gittis, vice chairman of Andrews Group, called Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments, two of the largest institutional holders of Marvel’s public debt, and asked them what they would like to see in a restructuring plan.Portfolio managers at Fidelity and Putnam decided to sell more that $70 million of Marvel bonds at a price of $0. 37 per dollar of fac e value on the next day. The main reason for selling by the managers is the conversation between Howard Gittis and them, which caused the managers considering the result of restructuring plan. They believed the plan would disappoint the public depending on their professional judgment. Perhaps, during this conversation, they got some detail information of the plan which proved the present value of Marvel’s bonds was overvalued.It gave the chance for them to avoid tens of millions of additional losses in diminished value that would have followed and suffer t he time they continued to hold the bonds already existing facts were revealed. On the other hand, the managers may worried about the downgrade of the bonds because the requirement of their portfolio allocation which constrained the percentage of the lower graded bonds or prohibited buying such bonds. Therefore, the bonds have to be sold to meet the requirement.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Human memory Essay

The investigation into whether images aid memory recall has been fairly successful. The experimental hypothesis: participants in condition 1(words with images) would perform better than those in condition 2 (words without images), has been rejected therefore the null hypothesis: there will be no difference in condition 1 (involving grid of random words supported by images) and condition 2 (only consisting of random words) has been accepted. Only to some extent from the line graph (Condition 1 vs. Condition 2), can we say condition 1 (words with images) recalled more words than those in condition 2 (words without images) because the line for condition 1 is generally above the line for condition 2 and this fairly supports the experimental hypothesis. The results measured using central tendency and measures of dispersion moderately support the experimental hypothesis. The mean and median for condition 1 (14. 1 & 14. 5) was greater than of condition 2 (12. 6 & 13. 5) indicating that there is a better recall when words are companied by visual aid and this supports the experimental hypothesis. The range (11) illustrated that data for both conditions were equally spread out, which does not necessary support the experimental hypothesis. Standard deviation, a more reliable measure of the dispersion than range has shown data in condition 2 (3. 977715704) is slightly more spread out than in condition 1 (3. 604010112). Descriptive statistics (numerical & graphical) have illustrated that condition 1 (words with images) performed better and this supports the experimental hypothesis. Not only do the numerical statistics support the hypothesis but the results are fairly pronounced, simply by looking at the line graph (graphical statistics); there is definitely a difference between both conditions although the Mann-Whitney U-test shows this to be below the level of significance. Inferential statistics, which enable us to draw clear conclusions about the likelihood of the hypothesis being true, is evidence for accepting the null hypothesis. The implication of the results measured using a non-parametric method, The Mann-Whitney U-test clearly shows that at the significance level of 0. 05, the results were very likely to have happened by chance. Though the observed value, 35 is greater than the critical value of 23 but only by 10. Comparatively, the findings of this study support previous theory and research but also are contrary to them. Bower, 1972 imagery recall experiment found that participants, who used imagery, recalled 80% of the words compared to only 45% by the non-imagers. In this investigation, participants in condition 1 (words with images) recalled 70. 5% of the words compared to 63% by the non-imagers. My investigation does support Bower’s findings, since there is a difference however the differences between the two conditions is not significant. Previous research does suggest that data in STM is stored in an acoustic manner this was demonstrated by Conrad (1964). Illustrating people may not always use visual codes to remember data and this supports the null hypothesis; in addition Baddeley’s (1966) study suggests that data is also stored semantically and this again illustrates that people may not always use visual codes. A possible problem with this experiment is the experimental design which lacks ecological validity and also does not account for individual differences. The study used independent groups, which meant it lacked control of participant variable and needed more participants. A matched participant design could have been used instead to deal with participant variables as participants are matched on key variables such as age and memory ability. Another problem of the study was the sample size. The study only used 20 participants, a small sample; therefore findings cannot be generalised to the rest of the population. So, a larger sample size of 50+ would be more representative and can be generalised. In addition, the investigation used opportunity sampling, which is very biased, and again it cannot be generalised. Random sampling would be the best method to select participants since it is potentially unbiased. An additional problem was the images used; some of the images were cartoon images (i. e. bible & pizza) and others were actual photographs (real life images, i. e. greenhouse). This may have been a problem since real life images may possibly be easier to remember than cartoon images or vice versa. To resolve such problem, would be by using only cartoon images alone or only real life images. The recall between genders may have wider implications: on the whole men have performed better than women, when studies have shown women should perform better than men. For example; women perform better than men in tasks such as verbal learning remembering tasks, name face association, and first last name associations learning (Larrabee and Crook, 1993). Ideas for a follow up research study is the effects of gender recall and discover if there is a significant effect for the sex of a participant on the types of gender associated images recalled and to compare the effects of visual and semantic codes in depth. There is evidence to illustrate that people do remember more with the aid of visual representation and evidence to illustrate people remember more without any visual representation. This itself suggests people do remember data and information differently (individual differences), i. e. acoustically, semantically. Therefore it is important to recognize these findings as they have strong insinuations for its involvement in everyday life, for example with teaching, revision and marketing. References & Bibliography Atkinson, R. C. & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968) Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K. W. Spence and J. T. Spence (Eds. ), The psychology of learning and motivation, vol. 8. London: Academic Press Baddeley, A. D. (1966) Encoding in LTM: The influence of acoustic and semantic similarity on long-term memory for word sequences. Quart. J. exp. Psychol. , 18, 302-9 Bahrick, H. P. (1975) The nature of LTM: ‘Fifty years of memory for names and faces: A cross-sectional approach’, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, vol. 104, pp. 54-75

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Meeting Consumer Needs Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Meeting Consumer Needs - Case Study Example The use of certain ingredients that are bad for health have been used by the company such as oils with transfats. Food Safety: McDonalds has reported that it conducts 2000 safety and quality checks on its products. Also 72 safety protocols in a day. The company also claims to be working closely with independent experts on science, health, food and nutrition. But if this is the case then the McDonald's coffee case has proved the organization wrong. In 1992 a woman in New Mexico bought coffee from the drive thru and accidentally spilled it on her thighs and she had to be taken to the hospital because she suffered from third degree burns. She sued the company and it was proved that McDonalds served coffee heated up to 180-190F or 82 -88 C. This can cause third degree burns within 12 seconds and normally restaurants have to serve coffee heated up to 60 C only. Thus, the lady was compensated for the damages and won the case. Plus it was also revealed that McDonalds had received up to 700 complains of burns during that period. Nutrition: McDonald's has been accused of producing highly fattening food products that are bad for health. The company was involved in yet another popular lawsuit known as Mclibel case. There were two activists in Britain who distributed leaflets stating "What's wrong with McDonalds" The company filed a case against them and the men tried to prove their statement but lost the case in the High court. Thus, they challenged the UK libel law in a European court so the court was forced to re-write the legislation. It was proved through the case that McDonalds exploited children through advertisement and also cause suffering to animals. Then Eric Schlosser wrote a book "Fast Food Nation" and mentioned that McDonalds uses political influence to increase profits at the expense of people's health and workers social conditions. Another important event damaged the company's reputation when the Hindu's sued the company for falsely claiming that their fries are vegetarian whereas it was proved they contained beef and animal content. The most important event that created doubts about nutrition in McDonalds food was the movie by Morgan known as "Super size Me." The movie showed having McDonalds for a month and super sizing when asked for thus he gains 11.11kgs in a month. Another important event that further added fuel to fire was when McDonalds claimed to reduce transfat in 2002 but due to some problems the oil was not changed on time and a site www.bantransfat.com had testimonials from people claiming damages for eating the food since they thought transfat had been reduced. All because the company did not create awareness of the fact. A case was filed and the company had to compensate for the damages. Toy safety: McDonalds claims to make the toys in their Happy meals themselves and also that they are tested and not made out of lead-based paint. The customers expect the company to be faithful and give importance to general health of the population by maintaining quality, safety and good nutrition in food. How the organization delivers to these expectations McDonalds has been involved in a number of lawsuits that have damaged its reputation. But whenever the

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Energy Harvesting Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Energy Harvesting - Dissertation Example Energy harvesting, therefore, can be defined as â€Å"The process in which energy is captured from a system’s environment and converted into usable electric power† (Maxim, 2011). The law of conservation of energy is the basis for energy harvesting. Energy can be converted from one form to another and the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains the same (Clark, 2004). Therefore, energy whether in form of wind, kinetic, chemical and others can be converted to electrical energy. 2. METHODS OF HARVESTING ENERGY Energy harvesting produces electric energy from ambient energy sources, present in large and small systems. Recovering a fraction of this energy can have a significant economic and environmental impact. These systems widely vary in sizes. On the macro scale, hydro electricity, tidal power, solar panels and wind turbines can produce MegaWatts. On a smaller scale, immediately available energy such as vibration, heat and light energy can be used to produce milliWatts. A typical energy harvesting system converts energy from the source and stores that energy. Capacitors are used in large scale systems, whereas, batteries are used in small scale systems for storage of energy. ... Photovoltaic cells, which are made up of silicon are used to convert solar energy into electricity. Most of these photovoltaic cells operate at an efficiency of less than 15 % (Asimov, 1969). The maximum theoretical efficiency attainable, however, is only 32.3 % (Clark, 1974). Solar energy is also indirectly used to produce electricity by concentrated solar power plants. The solar collectors are used to concentrate or focus sunlight onto a receiver that heats a liquid to produce steam, which in turn is used to produce electricity in the same way coal or fossil fuel plants do. 2.2 Wind Energy Wind turbines are used to harvest electrical energy from the wind. The wind passes over the blades of wind turbines, which in turn produces a turning force. The rotating blades turn the shaft which passes through the gearbox. The gearbox increases the rotational speed for the generator. The generator uses magnetic fields to convert the rotational energy harvested from the wind into electrical ene rgy. Wind farms, which are clusters of wind turbines, are used to harvest electrical energy from wind. The minimum wind speed for generating electricity is 4-5 m/s and the theoretical maximum power that can be extracted from the wind is 59.3 %. In reality this figure is usually around 45 % maximum for a large turbine. Wind energy has great potential for energy harvesting in the future and even smaller turbines (50-150 watts) are available for household connection (Golding, 1976). Energy harvested from the wind largely depends on siting of the wind farm. 2.3 Hydroelectric Hydroelectric systems create energy by harvesting energy by force of water. Water is collected in a dam or a reservoir. The water near the bottom of the reservoir is forced by the pressure of the water above it to be

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Quality Management Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Quality Management Plan - Essay Example   The manager's responsibility is to ensure that employees do not become sick by their job. Stress makes employees sick. Besides, acts to decrease stress are affordable.   The expense of stress to the organization can show up as an increased employee turnover, a rise in the absence of sickness, decreases job performance, increased customer complaints, and poor time management. Stress in a single employee can result in stress in employees who are compelled to function with the individual or even cover for him/her. Besides, staff members who do not consider stress as a dangerous thing can leave them open to compensation claims from employees who have been affected by work associated stress illness. Thus, stress reduction does not have to cost the organization a large sum of money. The organization can take the following steps to deal with the risk of stress: where stress caused or made worse by the job may result in ill health, the organization ought to evaluate the risk. The risk evaluation for stress entails searching for work pressures that may cause increased and long-term stress levels. It also requires choosing the individual that could be harmed by the work pressure and choosing whether the organization is doing enough to hinder such harm. If required, the organization ought to take steps to address such pressures. It must review the evaluation whenever it considers that it can no longer be correct. Besides, all employees ought to be involved in the assessment process, encompassing safety and health representatives.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Employee Feedback Questionaire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employee Feedback Questionaire - Essay Example This will be linked to the general view of the class regarding staff morale and their satisfaction and motivation in the work environment. The secondary purpose of this research is to describe the leadership style of the immediate supervisor, recognize the strengths and weaknesses, and recommend possible solutions in areas that need improvement. The research design for this study employed both qualitative and quantitative survey method. The questions were qualitative in nature and the quantitative aspect is on the number of positive, negative, and neutral responses gathered, which gauged the overall strength of the opinion and aided in formulating insights. The target population of this study included a practicum class at Hillcrest Medical Center. The sample size included all 23 members of the target population. The participation rate is 100%. With the high level of positive responses from the respondents, it can be inferred that the class is highly motivated and satisfied with their working environment and working relationship with their immediate supervisor.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Changes in market power Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Changes in market power - Research Paper Example Hence, despite the decreasing values of hotel prices, the market power can still be strengthened through the use of advertising strategy (Tung et al., 2010). The market power of hotel industries has gained an incremental value especially when hotel management lowered down their room rates. Celen and Thomas (2009) implicated that the changes of the market power within hotel industries are increasing towards a better profit because lowered priced rooms are mostly booked and occupied. In addition, Eden (1990) and Dana (1999) explicated that hotel industries can gain a change in market power when the distribution of room rates is equal and lowered to an affordable price. Consequently, market power is important within hotel industries in order to cope up with the increasing industrial competition (as cited in Celen & Thomas, 2009). Accordingly, the market power is determined through the market structure of the hotel industry, in which this will influence the changes of the market power held by the particular firm. Moreover, the vertical integration can benefit the market power of hotel industries and be able to manage their services despite increasing competition. Hence, the market power depends on how the hotel industries market their low priced rooms in order to sustain and regulate their market structure (Celen & Thomas, 2009; Tung et al., 2010). Tung, G.-S., Lin, C.-Y., & Wang, C.-Y. (2010). The market structure, conduct and performance paradigm re-applied to the international tourist hotel industry. African Journal of Business Management, 4 (6),

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Discussion #3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion #3 - Essay Example However, on this particular occasion, it was cold and windy and as my partner – my supervisor on this occasion - and I combed through alleys, we came across an old man who was being held at gun point by a young male. We soon discovered that the point of dispute was an oilskin bag that the old man carried which was bulging with dollar notes. The young male was demanding that the bag be handed over. My superior officer intervened and ordered the young man to step back, but it turned out he had a gun and tried to shoot him. In the ensuing conflict, my superior officer shot the young man and killed him. The old man was effusive in his gratitude and rose, clutching the bag to his chest. That’s when I received a shock. My superior urged me to kill the old man so we could snatch the money and divide it among us. He had exhausted his own bullets on the young man and therefore ordered me to do it. I flatly refused, since it was my duty to rescue the victims, not shoot them because of sudden, overpowering greed, which had obviously overcome my superior officer. This was the first time I deliberately disobeyed an order and it led to a hands on battle between my supervisor and myself with him trying to grab my gun from me. I yelled at the old man to run away and suffered through a severe beating from my officer which left me half dead. I later brought charges against my superior officer before a military tribunal. I became a man that day, when I had to truly face up to what my own values were in a situation where I could have possibly escaped and gotten away with killing the old man and dividing the loot with my supervising officer. However, the fact that it was ethically and morally wrong to steal the property of another was one consideration which restrained me. Another was the fact that it seemed morally very wrong to attempt profit during a time of calamity, when the old man

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 18

Ethics - Essay Example Syria’s situation was different because it was complex. It would take much monetary help through the use of militia. â€Å"Rwanda involved the use of small arms.† (The Gurdian) According to Gilligan, care ethics is a normative theory. This means it is a theory about what makes right or wrong of ones actions. It is known as moral theory. The contrast between ethics of care and ethics of justice is clear when one seems to incorporate moral reasoning to professional discipline substances. The Western morality concept is dominant of rights and justice in its basing. Other principles are formal rationality, impartiality, and impersonality which are universal. They form the basis of moral development and are the bedrock of the dormant Western morality conception. â€Å"Gilligan’s concept contrast with ethic of justice based of relationship and care.† (Virginia) Walzer’s version of dirty hand theory is based on ethics of war in the political sphere’s quest for power. â€Å"He argues that if distributive justice is based on the standards of complex equality then manager selection is the entity of the employees.† (Baarda A and M) This is contrary to the experience of the vast majority in today’s economy that justifies an actor that causes some suffering for the greater good. Mill’s principles bring a different perspective because it gives the idea that happiness is promoted by any action that does not produce pain. Both pain producing and non-pain producing actions contribute to the overall level of society’s happiness. Mills principles do not engage in evil practices to attain happiness. Identical victims are known to be survivors of a scene who possess injuries in their bodies. These injuries are used to separate them from the rest who are in the scene. Therefore the injuries are signs for identity that is clear and easy to detect. Statistical victims are known to be the collective identity

Friday, August 23, 2019

Implications of Cultural Tourism for Host Communities Essay

Implications of Cultural Tourism for Host Communities - Essay Example were and there are societies where the idea of tour is practically unknown. Generally speaking holidaymaking and travel has become an important social phenomenon in most societies today. Often modern tourism is based on the pseudo-event. Most tourists find pleasure in the stage-managed events. Often The English race has been inveterate travelers. However the motive for travel till the dawn of renaissance was usually pilgrimage, ecclesiastical business, diplomacy, or commerce. With the delightful discovery of antiquity, increasing numbers of young men were lured to the monuments of ancient Rome. The flowering of renaissance first came about in Italy and the humanist education at an Italian university, especially in Padua was the dream of many English gentlemen of resources. In spite of the cleavage of Christendom to Catholicism and Protestantism the inter course between nations continued and it produced profound results for England. Before the invention of package tours the most popular form of travel to Italy was by The Grand Tours. Watching the extant antiquity and the prevailing culture of the peninsula provided a finish of culture and style to the young man. The Grand Tour Travel as the finishing school of a cultured English gentleman is an idea that was in the British psyche for many years. Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, a bold attempt, to string a number of tales in the backdrop of a pilgrimage is a monumental document of the English predilection towards travel. The travel in which monk and friar, captain and doctor, cook and scholar rubbed shoulder in hilarious camaraderie presents colourful vignettes of medieval social life. Francis Bacon in his aphoristic essay, On Travel reflects on the salutary aspect of travel as one that enriches the mind and completes the education of a gentleman. The Grand Tour as it developed later seems to have accepted the guidelines set by Bacon. He has recommended in the 16th century itself that young men should go abroad under the guidance of a tutor. He has enumerated the items that the young man should look for in his travel and what they must avoid. The first sentence of the essay itself declares travel as the inseparable component of a gentleman's education. TRAVEL, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Dynamic Tension Through Compression and Expansion Essay Example for Free

Dynamic Tension Through Compression and Expansion Essay Elements with a directional quality placed in contrast to a static enclosure can infuse energy and drama. The implied energy can be manipulated to excite or surprise the perceiver while giving directional cues or emphasis to elements in space. Directional cues can clarify circulation, making navigation through space more comprehensible. Strong emphasis on elements in space can be achieved through contrasting the static with the dynamic. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) * master of the use of dynamictension. The space is entered by ascending a monumental set of steep stairs to the summit of a hill overlooking Rome. B. The perceiver is received in a trapezoidal piazza defined by three palaces symmetrically placed. C. The main building, Palazzo del Senatore terminates the axis approach. D. Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo flank the axis and frame the main building by widening toward the dominant facade forming a wedge-shaped space. The three rooms were to contrast sharply in shape and articulation to reinforce their purposes. The vestibule is square in plan, the reading room rectangular, and the rare books room was planned to be triangular. The constructed library was composed of the two parts: A. Reading Room B. Vestibule The tall square vestibule contains a large monumental stair that leads to the reading room. The stair spills from the entrance of the reading room with a robust exaggeration of forms splitting in to three stairs at the landing. The stair fills the room, creating a strong directional quality in contrast to the non-directional square room. The accentuation of the tension between the enclosure and stair is by positioning the entrance to the room at ninety degrees to the directional thrust. Tension is introduced in the room by the treatment of the elaborate walls. Paired columns supported rather weak volute brackets are recessed between the plaster walls, giving the impression of great compression. The purpose of the said transition space is to establish a prelude experience of tension and compression in contrast to the restful reading room. Aubette (Strasbourg) PLAN Interior View : Right Side Elevation Interior View : Left Side Elevation The building originally dates from the 13th century and between  1765  and  1778  substantially rebuilt by architect  Jacques Francois Blondel  and then to serve as a military building. In the 19th century had the military share the building with a cafe, which was later covered. Use elements in the consideration of having dynamic tension in the interior: Dynamic Elements 1. Walls – by means of colors, shapes and diagonal lines 2. Ceiling – by means of colors, shapes and diagonal lines Static Elements 1. Floor – by means of color 2. Seating – by means of placement of object The collection of paintings in 1803 founded the city of Strasbourg in 1869 in the Aubbette housed. Only the outer walls were preserved. Dynamic tension is achieved by the use of the rectangular shapes patterns placed in the wall accompanied y the use of different colors.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The Malaysian Tobacco Industry

The Malaysian Tobacco Industry CHAPTER 1 The Malaysian tobacco industry is a copious industry which comprehends leaf production and curing, product manufacturing to product marketing and distribution. Tobacco is the countrys most widely cultivated non-food crop (British American Tobacco Malaysia). Malaysia is not considered as a large tobacco leaf producer by world standards. Neither is a major contributor to the Malaysian economy. However, tobacco farmers are used politically by the tobacco industry. According to a study conducted by Ernst and Young in June 2005 for the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers, the industry contributes extensively to the countrys economy with more than 190,000 people depending on it for employment in 2003. Tobacco production has increased due to a rise in the demand for tobacco from cigarette manufacturers. (See Table 1.0) 1.1 Impact of Tobacco Use Cigarette demand has long been a crucial issue and has become especially prominent in the wake of the recent colossal settlements between government and cigarette companies ( Huang and Chin, 2006). According to the press statement by the Minister of Health, the Hon Dato Chua Jui Meng on Tobacco Control in Malaysia on 7th November 1996, cigarette smoking is an avoidable addiction which hold responsible for a massive 25% of all deaths in Malaysia. Smoking is a deadly and expensive pastime which is dangerous to both smokers and the second hand smokers (Costa and Mossialos,2006). Studies showed that 30% of cancer deaths and 90% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Malaysia were associated to smoking (The Star). According to World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco is going to be the biggest cause of death in the world if current pattern of smoking continue, with no changes in cessation rates or significant declines in initiation rates by 2020. There are more than one billion smoke rs in the world and 5.4 million people were killed by tobacco use a year. Moreover, smoking is not only destroying the health of the smoker but it is also an economic burden. These include primarily direct or indirect medical costs to the smokers and also productivity losses. Indoor places where smoking is allowed will incur a higher renovation and cleaning costs. The management will have to pay a lot to maintain the cleanliness in the workplaces. Furthermore, it increased the risk of fire and may acquire higher insurance premiums. Since the first report on tobacco by Surgeon General was released in 1964, awareness relative to the negative effects of tobacco use has increased. Smoking cigarettes during pregnancy can cause impromptu miscarriage, underweight babies and premature delivery. Most importantly, it will also cause sudden infant death (SID) syndrome. At the same time, it is also very dangerous for the people who do not smoke but breathing in a smoke-filled room. Second-hand smoke is a major source of indoor air pollution which can damage the health of both the children and adults. There are almost half of the worlds children breathe second-hand smoke today. In recent times, the smokers are increasing from day to day (See Table1.1). Despite of all the negative effects, smokers dont seem to be affected by the side effects. Teenage smoking is a severe problem in Malaysia and according to the World Tobacco Marketfile, the number of youth smokers are increasing (See Table 1.2). The risk of youth commencing tobacco use by socio-demographic, environmental and personal factors is increasing. Family with low socioeconomic status is an example of socio-demographic factor. There are more young people who smoke nowadays because tobacco products are easily accessible and available everywhere. Young people who are lack of parental guidance will be easily influenced by peers. These are the examples of environmental risks factor. While personal risk factors include low self-esteem and the belief that tobacco use provides an advantage which can help them to reduce stress. People who get older should understand the danger of smoking better than the youth . They should be able to experience the side effects if they have been smoking for quite some time. Some people may not be aware of the specific health risks of tobacco use as they are not exposed to the side effects. If the smokers are aware of the dangers of tobacco, most want to quit. 1.2 Governments Regulation towards Cigarette Demand The Malaysian government has done various efforts and implemented regulations restricting people to smoke. Government policy is divided into price and tax measures; and also non-price measures such as Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke; Regulation of contents of tobacco product; Regulation of tobacco product disclosures; Packaging and labelling of tobacco products; Education, communication, training and public awareness; Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and Tobacco cessation (Zain, 2007). National Tobacco Control Program is one of the strategies taken to reduce tobacco use. The general objective of this program is to provide comprehensive support and assistance to help smokers quit smoking. The programs include legislative control; health promotion and public advocacy; tobacco tax policy; smoking cessation services; research, monitoring and evaluation; multi-sectoral collaboration and capacity building. In legislative control, under the section on the Prohibition on Tobacco Product Advertisement of Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004 restricts printing, publishing or distributing of any tobacco product advertisement. It bans on cigarette advertisement on television and radio. Health warning messages are placed on every cigarette pack to raise peoples awareness. Furthermore, government has legislated smoke-free policy in Malaysia to curb smoking. There is total ban on smoking in government meetings. Places like health and educational facilities, governmental offices, public transport, shopping complex, cinemas and places of worship are smoke-free zone. Besides that, health promotion and advocacy covers campaigns such as Tak Nak Campaign; Healthy Lifestyle Campaign; Kempen Nafas Baru Bermula Ramadhan; World No Tobacco Day and also events by other agencies. On top of that, government also introduce excise duties on imported cigarette and further increase in sales and import tax . Increase tax will reduce the consumption on cigarettes without negative impact on revenue. At the same time, National Smoking Cessation Program was introduced to provide comprehensive support and assistance to help smokers to quit smoking. Under this program, it helps to inform and educate the smokers regarding the advantages of quitting smoking. Government has created a lot of awareness program to help people to quit smoking and the most effective strategy to reduce smoking is raising the price of the cigarettes. So as all these efforts and accumulation of knowledge are done, the demand for cigarettes and smoking should be reducing. 1.3 Problem Statement Tobacco use in Malaysia has escalated over the past years in spite of the numerous health warnings. Despite the various implementations of mass anti-smoking campaigns by the government, smoking is still a popular activity among the people. In the past there is a lot of domino effect of smoking leading to health problems yet it can seem surprising that some people still choose to smoke. Tobacco users still continue with it in pursuance of the risks or the expense because smoking is a habit hard to break for the reason that it contains an addictive drug called nicotine. In addition to that, the effect will be amplified this time around as the price of cigarettes increase simultaneously. Subsequently, the price affects the middle and lower income group of wage earner adversely because smoking is an expensive activity. The rising of cigarettes price will cause them to be overburdened by the rising living cost. People start smoking for a variety of different reasons. Although most of the people is aware that smoking is dangerous and harmful to the people around them but there are still 40-50 new smokers created everyday and the smoking popularity among the youth are increasing. There is about 9 out of 10 smokers start before the age of 18 years old (See Table 1.2). Most of the youth started to smoke as an act of rebellion and also because of peers pressure. The teenagers may not be conscious about the effects but it will become apparent later on in their life. Furthermore, survey has shown that the trend of young female smokers is increasing at such an alarming rate. According to the statistics by Healthy Living, it shows that there are 22% of smoker ages around 18 to 24 years old, 22.8% of smoker ages around 25 to 44 years old, 21% of smoker ages around 45 to 64 years old and 8% of smoker ages above 65 years old. 1.4 Research Question The questions arise in this study is: Will the people above the age of 65 years old decrease the consumption of cigarettes? Will the implementation of the government policy towards the cigarettes reduce the number of smokers in Malaysia 1.5 Objectives of the Study The general objective of this study is to determine the demand for cigarettes. More specific, this study tends to Determine the price and income elasticity towards the demand for cigarettes. Determine the impact of demand for cigarettes on aging population. 1.6 Significance of the Study This research on the aging population is important in the attempt to reduce the overall demand for cigarettes in Malaysia. This study will test the level of awareness of population of Malaysia on the impact of smoking between different age groups. Most of the diseases caused by tobacco use will only be noticeable when the users reach the later stage in life. This study will justify why policy makers should take into consideration people of all age groups when coming up with new policies regarding tobacco use, instead of focusing only on the younger population. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is to review the existing literature on the demand for cigarette. There is a large volume of published studies describing the price and income elasticity on cigarette consumption. Furthermore, there is also a large and growing body of literature has investigated the effects of taxes and anti-smoking regulations on the demand for cigarettes. So far, there are only a few studies regarding the relationship between aging population and the consumption of cigarette. 2.1 Theoretical Studies of Demand for Cigarettes The law of demand is an important law in microeconomic theory. In theoretical economics, economists develop models to explore economic activity and outcomes. Reliable statements about economic behavior enable the prediction of probable effects of specific actions. The law of demand is an economic law that states that, all other factors being equal, as the price of good increases, demand for the good will decrease. This law summarizes the effect price changes have on consumer behavior. The negative relationship between price and quantity demanded is caused by two reasons. One of the reasons is the income and substitution effects. Income effect means that for a lower price product, a consumer can buy more than they could at the higher price point. Other similar products now seem more expensive compared to the lower priced product is the substitution effect. The second reason is the diminishing marginal utility for the inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded. Consumers get less satisfaction from each additional unit of product they consume over a specified period of time. They will only continue to buy if the price is reduced at each point. By increasing the real price of tobacco, a tax increase has colossal potential to be an effective policy lever to decrease tobacco consumption. The impact of taxes on tobacco consumption depends on the extent to which changes in taxes are reflected in tobacco prices and the responsiveness of consumers to changes in prices. People tend to reduce their consumption on tobacco use as the price increase. The demand functions show that cigarette consumption is related to the price of cigarettes, prices of related goods, income, and individuals tastes. A general conclusion from the precious studies is that tobacco prices and the demand are inversely related. Marshall illustrated the law of demand with both a table and a demand curve by assuming that the period of time is sufficiently short to justify a ceteris paribus assumption. 2.2 Empirical Studies of Demand for Cigarettes Several studies conducted have reported that there is an inverse relationship between the price and cigarette consumption and positive effect of income. Franke (1994) reveals that Granger Causality is significant from price and income to cigarette consumption in the United States. No significant change is observed in the estimated demand elasticity which occurred during the period studied. In order to test a model of the demand for cigarettes in the United States from the period of 1961 to 1990, he uses quarterly data and multiple analyses. The outcome of the study illustrates a positive effect of income and negative effects on price. Likewise, Zheng, Zhu and Li (2008), in a separate study also finds that there is indeed a positive income elasticity but negative cigarette price elasticity based on the best fixed-effects spatial-temporal model. They construct a demand equation to study on the elasticity of per pack cigarette price and per capita disposable income in 2008. This is done by considering the cigarette demand in a spatial panel of 46 states of the United States over a period of 30 years which ranged from 1963 to 1992. They then propose a new spatial panel model and implement a fully Bayesian approach for model parameter inference and prediction of cigarette demand at future time points using the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms. Chaloupka et al. (2002) examines data from documents of the tobacco industry to discover what tobacco companies know of the impact that cigarette prices has on smoking among youth, young adults and also adults. They assess on how this understanding would affect their pricing and price related marketing plans. The tobacco company documents provides velar evidence on the consequence of change in cigarette prices on cigarette smoking habits, relating how tax and other increases in price led to significant decline in smoking, predominantly among the younger people. They conclude that future efforts towards tobacco control which targets to increase prices and limit price related marketing efforts are critical in achieving reductions in tobacco use and public health toll caused by tobacco. This view is supported by Fernà ¡ndez et al. (2004) which shows that between the period of 1965 and 2000, there is indeed an inverse relation between the prices and consumption of cigarette in Spain, wh ich indicates that involvement at the economic level, for instance real increases in price may have an important public health impact in control of tobacco. Correspondingly, Gallus et al. (2006) present a similar study to determine the influence that cigarette prices has on tobacco consumption in Italy. A survey is conducted on 3050 individuals aged 15 and above which suggests that prices had an intermediate to high influence on cigarette consumption in the young. Younger people as well as less educated smokers are more susceptible to an influence of prices. They conclude that cigarette prices have substantial influence on tobacco consumption in the younger people. On the contrary, Raptou et al (2005) argues that cigarette demand is extremely insensitive to changes in price. They employ data collected via questionnaires which was administered by personal-in-home interviews and estimate a two part model of cigarette demand (Cragg, J. G. B Some Statistical Models for Limited Dependent Variables with Application to the Demand for Durable Goods, Econometrica, 39, 5, 1971, pp. 829Y44). They conclude that cigarette price measures would not affect cigarette demand. However, it is discovered that smoking restrictions in workplace areas as well as educational establishments, and also most of the psychosocial variables will affect the demand of cigarette. According to Huang and Yang (2006), current estimates of the income elasticity to cigarette demand have shown a troubling result which is nearly zero or sometimes negative income elasticity. They engage in a four-regime panel model (dynamic fixed effect) which is use to predict the function of cigarette demand within the United States with intentions to investigate the nonlinearity embedded in the cigarette demand structure. They apply a multi-regime model to 47 states using data from 1963 to 1997. They claim that there is a nonlinear relationship between personal income and cigarette consumption. Evidently, as income rises, cigarette has become an inferior good. The results from the four-regime model suggest that income elasticity is negative when per capita income is greater than US$ 8,568 but become is positive though insignificant when income is above US$ 18,196. In the income ranging from US$ 8,568 and US$ 18,196, the income elasticity is significantly negative. There is a nonli near relationship which prevailed for the price elasticity. Furthermore, Martinez, Mejia, and Estable (2008) claims that the demand for cigarettes in Argentina over the long term is influenced by the changes in real average price and real income of the cigarettes in Argentina. They analyse the data based on monthly time-series data between the periods of 1994 to 2004. The results that they obtain show that when the prices are increased at 120%, a maximum of revenues from the cigarettes tax can be attained and also there is a big effect on the reduction of the total consumption of cigarettes within the country. Similarly, Abedian (2000) also states that there is an inverse relationship between the price and consumption of any good which include cigarettes. This negative relationship is further affected by other factors such as income levels and the degree of addiction. He argues that increasing tobacco consumption is a problem faced in a developing country and it could bring harm to the people. He also argues that there are no adverse economic consequences following such policy framework. In 2000, Joni Hersch in his studies states that smoking behavior relates to the changes in price, which is not unlike many other economic commodities. He finds that a higher price would reduce demand for cigarettes in both men and women with regard to smoking participation and cigarette consumption levels, with elasticity ranging from -0.40 to -0.60. In distinction to other studies, he finds that the price elasticity is alike for both men and women. Income also has negative effects on smoking behavior. He also states that excise tax policies can dissuade smoking, but their effects will be largely restricted to the low income segment of the population. This finding suggests that there might be constructive responses by smokers to informational efforts which warn about the dangers of smoking and also the environmental tobacco smoke poses to others, especially when it is a member of ones household. Further observations suggest that increase in taxes also play an essential role in reducing cigarette consumption. Following recent years, there has been a growing amount of literature on higher prices that result from increased tax leading to significant reductions in cigarette smoking. A recent study by Chaloupka et al (2010) which performs to supply empirical evidence on the consequence of the cigarette excise tax structure towards three outcomes which are the government revenue, cigarette prices, and cigarette consumption. A cross-sectional time-series data for 21 European Union (EU) countries is composed from year 1998 to 2007 out of various data resources. The estimates suggest that the greater reliance on the ad valorem excise tax leads to lower average cigarette prices and larger price gaps between premium and low-priced cigarette brands. In addition, these impacts from the tax structure are smaller in more concentrated or less competitive markets. They also propose that a la rger reliance on a specific tax will have a greater impact on cigarette smoking, but the impact lessens with the growth of manufacturers market power. In view of this, Peng and Ross (2009) estimates the Ukraine population in its sensitivity to prices of cigarettes and the cigarettes affordability using the macro level data with the aim to compute the efficiency of cigarette tax policy. They use a monthly time-series data from 1997 to 2006 in Ukraine to estimate the generalized least square (GLS) model with an AR(1) process. The result shows that the cigarette price is not significantly associated with legal domestic sale of cigarette. Higher household income and more active outdoor advertising have positive and significant impact on cigarette sales. There is also a positive relationship between the affordability for cigarette and legal domestic cigarette sales. Increasing the cigarette excise tax by 10% would increase the price of cigarettes by 3%. This shows that cigarette tax policy can be used to regulate cigarette price in Ukraine. The people are found to be relatively insensitive to cigarette prices and cigarette taxes, even t hough of low magnitude, but the effect of cigarettes affordability is significant statistically. Similarly, Lee et al. (2005) concludes that price elasticity of cigarettes is approximated to be less than one, which implies that the tax will have some result in reducing cigarette consumption, although it will also generate further tax revenues. Moreover, Hidayat and Thabrany (2010) study the demand for cigarettes in Indonesia using a myopic addiction model and uses it to analyse the price elasticity of cigarette demand. They use an aggregated panel data structured from three waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey over the period of 1993 to 2000. They claim that the short run and long run price elasticity of cigarette demand are estimated to be at -0.28 and -0.73 correspondingly. Price increases have a significantly negative impact on cigarette consumption. Increasing cigarette prices via excise taxes can control tobacco use and thus raise government revenue. They then conclude that excise taxes are more likely an efficient tobacco control rather than a key source of government revenue in the long run. Besides that, Lee (2008) conduct a study which analyses the readiness of current smokers to stop the smoking habit or reduce the consumption of cigarettes when experiencing an increase in tax of NT $22 per pack, which is a consequent rise of 44%. Lee uses cross-sectional study on 483 valid questionnaires conducted during a telephone survey from April to July 2004, targeting current smokers aging 15 years and above, around the 23 major cities in Taiwan. The methods that he uses to measure the elasticity in cigarette demand are the Tobit regression model and also the maximum likelihood method, and estimation results shows a price elasticity of -0.29 following the 44% increase in the cigarette price. Interestingly, the most significant response to the increase in price was found among women, smokers with low salary, smokers who are only moderately addicted, and smokers who purchase low priced cigarettes. Lee concludes that the smokers are relatively insensitive to a hike in cigarette pr icing, since the prices of cigarettes are low in Taiwan. Thus, a marginal increase in cigarette tax would consequently reduce cigarette consumption and thus also increase the cigarette tax revenue of the government and the income of cigarette merchants effectively. This result is consistent with the findings of previous studies by Townsend (1996) and Sissoko (2002) which reflects that the price has a major effect on cigarette consumption and consequently diseases caused by smoking, especially in low income groups. Progressive rise in cigarette tax rates offer a powerful contribution to policy for reducing cigarette consumption and generating extra government revenue. Consequently, when Ross and Al-Sadat (2007) evaluate income elasticity and the price on cigarette demand and also the effect of cigarette taxes towards cigarette demand and cigarette tax revenue within Malaysia, they find that income is positively connected to cigarette consumption. A 1% rise in real income boosts cigarette consumption by 1.46%. They use time series regression analysis for 1990 to 2004 applying the error-correction model. The per-capita consumption of domestic and imported cigarettes is calculated using the excise tax and import duties collected by the Malaysian government and the size of the adult population which are aged above 15 years old. The model estimates that a rise in cigarette excise tax from RM 1.60 to RM 2 per pack will effectively reduce cigarette consumption in Malaysia by 3.37%. They conclude that taxation is an effectual means for reducing cigarette consumption and deaths linked to tobacco while bringing up the revenue for the Malaysian government. According to Huang, Yang, and Hwang (2004), future cigarette consumptions will depend entirely on tax share, price and income elasticity of remaining heavy smoker. They use a panel unit root test to calculate the demand for cigarettes over the period of 1961 to 2002 for 42 states including Washington D.C. The cigarette data in this study is obtained from The Tax Burden on Tobacco published by the Tobacco Institute. They find that price and income elasticity are approximately -0.41 and 0.06. Other than that, a decrease in tax elasticity leads to decreasing price elasticity, and smaller tax shares seems to be interconnected to declining tax elasticity. This study shows an interesting implication, whereby cigarette consumption is a normal good to transfer payment recipients and wage earners, which however is an inferior good to the elderly population and stocks owners. In 2002, Hu and Mao examine a policy dilemma in China on public health against the tobacco economy through added cigarette tax. In order to analyse the impact of tobacco consumption and production towards government revenue and also to the entire economy, they use published data from 1980 to 1997. Imposition of cigarette tax increase will have a significant impact in generating extra central government revenue and reducing cigarette consumption. Therefore, increasing additional tax on cigarettes will be beneficial to the Chinese government from both the financial and public health perspective. Levy, Cummings, and Hyland (2000) use a simulation model to evaluate the effects of taxes on the smoking rate and smoking induced deaths. The method they use in their study projects the number of smokers and smoking attributable deaths from a baseline year of 1993. They find that increase in taxes is to reduce the percentage of the total population that smokes. Youth groups experiences greater effects. The effects of a tax hike tends to increase over time as younger individuals who are more responsive to price increase grows older, but federal and state taxes on cigarettes are currently set at a fixed amount per unit. Moreover, the price of cigarettes falls comparative to the purchasing power of the population as wages increase. These effects grow over time and lead to a substantial savings in lives and health care cost. Lanoie and Leclair (1998) investigate the relative ability of two anti-smoking policies which are taxes and regulations, in inducing a decline in cigarette consumption and in providing incentives to quit smoking. Based on a Canadian data over the period of 1980 to 1995, the results show that cigarette demand react to taxes with the elasticity of -0.28, not regulation. This result implies that the policies are both acting in a corresponding fashion to influence the incidence of smoking. In addition to that, Galbraith and Kaiserman (1997) analyses Canadian cigarette taxation and consumption within the period of 1980 and 1994. During that period, there is a large price rise and decline, and a dramatic increase in the consumption of the contraband tobacco products. In their study, they examine the elasticity of legal cigarette sales and total sales which include contraband with respect to the price of legal cigarettes and various other factors. They conclude that price elasticity regarding demand towards cigarettes tends to increase in absolute value over time, making taxation an increasing strong instrument with which to influence smoking behavior. In considering untaxed sales as well, it becomes clear that the sensitivity of total cigarette sales to the taxation instrument is much lower than would otherwise appear, and has fallen obviously. According to Meier and Licari (1997), a rise in federal tax is more successful than increases in state taxes in reducing tobacco use. Cigarette consumption drops when labels with health warnings were added. They use a pooled time-series analysis from the period of 1955 to 1994 with 50 states as units of the study. The effect of excise taxes on cigarette consumption for numerous different models and econometric techniques is asset to analyse the usefulness of state and federal taxes in bringing down the consumption of cigarettes and estimate the effect of government health warnings. Their study also shows how warnings and taxes interact. Tobacco control programs also has some impact towards the consumption of cigarettes as stated by Farrelly, Pechacek and Chaloupka (2003) that increase in tobacco control program expenditures reduce cigarette sales. Additionally, in reviewing the evidence on the effectiveness of comprehensive tobacco control programs, the recent Surgeon Generals Report on Reducing Tobacco Use concludes that comprehensive tobacco control programs work. Although these studies consistently suggest that state tobacco control programs decrease tobacco use, these studies can easily be confounded by changes in excise taxes, cross-border sales, and other factors. Nevertheless, Leu (1984) reveals that anti smoking advertisements in Switzerlands mass media has a significant permanent effect on cigarette consumption. It is a powerful instrument to reduce cigarette consumption. He claims that extended publicity, following the 1964 US Surgeon Generals Report, accompanying various tax increases which preceded by a public vote on an advertising ban for tobacco products, helps reduce consumption permanently by a total of 11%. It is also supported by Keeler et al (1993) who examine the impact of income, taxes, prices, and anti smoking policy on the consumption of cigarettes in California. They use a monthly time-series data throughout 1980 to 1990. He also declares that the effect of the increase in tax in the long run will be to decrease cigarette consumption. Anti-smoking regulations decreases cigarette consumption, and thus, it shows that consumers behave consistently with the model of rational addiction. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY This chapter is to describe on the methods used in this study and the collection of data. It also explains the procedures used in collecting the data and the measurement of the variables. Thus, it provides a summary of expected result of the study. 3.1 Data types A time series data is used for the empirical analysis in this study. The data is collected annually over the period of 1998 to 2008. The types of data obtained are real price of cigarette, real income per capita, cigarette consumption, and also the aging population. 3.2 Data Source The secondary data is collected from the previous studies by other researchers. Mainly, the sources of data are from Departme

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Convergence Of Television Networking Media Essay

The Convergence Of Television Networking Media Essay The long-indicated convergence of broadcast TV and internet is reaching a tipping point. Viewing TV text via internet has changed PC savvy TV viewers expectation dramatically. The rise in synchronized use of internet and TV has resulted in a unique off screen and on screen relationship of users with TV content (Grady, 2010). Gradys view of Television describes onscreen engagement of audience with online TV content and off screen interaction amidst peers and friends that Jenkins (2006) terms as water cooler conversations. The onscreen and off screen experience together brings the sociability factor among viewers that supports the water cooler conversation. TV cultivates sociability in many ways (Lull: 1990) for instance, TV plays a vital role in constructing and maintaining interpersonal relationship amongst family and social units. Likewise, when TV content is viewed on websites and other networking sites, it sparks sociability amongst users that influence users to react in numerous ways. For instance, Spoiler fandom of TV shows Survivors was one of the forms of users that used sociability to spoil the show. Although, fandom is not the only form practiced on networking sites, but many more that influences users to build a community around a specific TV content. Online TV content cultivates sociability in networked communities and gives a platform to practice Mc Luhans (1874) living room experience. But online sociability has charted changes in traditional concept of TV and audience. As Fiske (1987: 63-4) states revaluation of viewer requires a revaluation of text. Hence such a convergence needs to be studied in context to dramatic changes in TV industry such as changes in production, distribution and content management. This section of my literature review highlights dramatic changes in TV and TV entry in a post network era. The section also makes a general understanding about TV culture and TV (content) flow. A separate section discusses proliferation of TV text across social networking sites and social use of technology with relevance to online viewing. 1.3.1 Television Concepts Fiske (1987:1) defines TV, a bearer/provoker of meanings and pleasures, and of culture as the generations and circulation of variety of meanings and pleasures within the society. TV as culture is deeply interwoven in our society that it persistently produces and reproduces; meanings and pleasures and their distribution influences audience to behave in a desired way. Meanings are interpreted differently by audience and are part of flow of TV that are experienced by viewers ( Fiske: 1987,15). Audiences are makers of meaning; consume TV text as readers that are capable of producing meanings and pleasure with respect to socio-cultural frameworks ( Fiske: 1987,17). Therefore, to understand audience, TV needs to be understood as culture and a flow that extends meanings and pleasures to meaning makers in social structures. TV as Culture Culture is complex and difficult to understand, it signifies set of values acquired by set of social groups that results in patterned behavior. Theorist like Richard Hoggart (1957), Raymond William (1958) and EP Thompson (1968) has contributed much to the concept of culture. Hall Jefferson (1976, hall.et.al) states, culture is multi-faceted and plural that contains element from past and layers within it. A culture is a culmination of past and present that shapes existing ideas and insights in a society. Culture is diverse, versatile and contains popular forms of dominant culture in a society (Matthew, 1869). As Turner, explains culture is part of our lives that are so powerful and unquestioned that it almost goes invisible and unnoticed (Turner, 1990). Similarly TV and its text has become integral part of our culture that induces viewers to become readers. Television, its content and the industry forms significant aspects of our culture that affects social structures in many ways. TV has become one of the primary forms of culture in most industrialized society (Kompare, 2002). TV as flow Williams (1958) determines flow; a technology and a cultural form. Flow in context to TV, refers to the movement from one program to other or from one segment to the other. Network channels (producers) hold audience via flow of TV text from one interesting segment to another interesting segment making flow continuous. Kompare (2002) explains flow, a broadcasting property that constitutes the overall experience of broadcasting on the minds of audience. Network channels use flow as a strategy to overcome gaps created by commercials and public message; to grab the attention of audience to fill up those gaps and breaks by moving to another program or a segment of a program making viewing experience as effortless endless experience. Gaps are the visible characteristics that define television experience. Williams (1958) believed gaps are not mere gaps but are planned breaks that happens because of interaction between television and audience, he termed it as planned flow. Flow relates to th e appointment based television that involves audience to experience, TV as an endless narrative flow that intensify their continuity. Continuity engages and sustains audience that results in economic exchange, gratifying needs of network channels (advertisers) and audience. Engagement with TV results in cultural capital where as financial front releases economic capital that is necessary for TV to function as culture good andeconomic good. Flow is an essential concept for the growth and survival of TV as culture in a social structure. John Ellis, John Fiske, Jane Feuer, Richard Dinest, John corner and many others have challenged the operations that Williams described in the process of contributing to the formation of discursive field of flow (Urichho, 2004). Corner (2003) argues flow is a pessimistic discourse of TV culture that disregards television characteristics as a diverse medium. Ellis (1982) discusses the scheduling of different genres of programs that are organized in a TV network should be focus of study. His argument focuses on schedule (time) other than programs (flow) as determined by Williams and emphasizes how a different genre of programs gets fit into scheduling of television by organization of time is more relevant than movement from program to program. His way of determining flow underlines the concept of audience that engage themselves in different ways, provided what has been offered to them. This signifies not only how time handles text but how time passage in the text has imbrications on the life who viewed a particular content. Thus, time is an important factor in the study of TV flow. Flow to be understood in present TV culture, it needs to be studied in relation to current advancement in technologies and new digital systems that has converged different mediums at a single platforms. With introduction of converging technologies, so called mass communication mediums , including TV does not always flow ( Kompare : 2002). TV has come long way from traditional form of viewing TV text that was time based and continuous. New media offers content as flexible package than continuous narrative wiping away factors such as when, where and how that has charted changes in the identity of television as culture. Urichho (2004) sketches flow, a fundamental shift in the interface between television and viewer and so in the viewing experience. He describes flow as an interface and explains how the introduction of metadata system and filter technologies has resulted into a new kind of interaction that suggests TV has entered to a new phase. New devices have provided tools to capture television text and produce ways of asynchronous viewing that has altered the interaction of medium with the culture in many ways (Lotz: 2007:35). New mechanism to view varied TV text has charted changes in the concept of flow making it flexible and malleable. The current phase shows us deepening convergence of technologies at single platform and TVs shift from broadcasting to other modes of carriage like VOD, cable, satellite has given an opportunity to distribute content to wider platforms that reaches beyond the audience of broadcast TV. Recent BARB figures of 2009 indicated that most of the people in UK, recorded the first episode of fifth series of Lost (Guardian, 2009). The distribution of TV text to various alternative carriers has affected TV, its identity and TV as a cultural form. TV as culture is transformed by recurring changes in its components such as TV text, changing preferences of audience, advancement in technologies and network channels stance to produce relevant content in accordance with socio-cultural frameworks. For instance, a popular broadcasting network like BBC or CBS when started uploading programs on their websites, audience discussion rise from dinning room to virtual communities, effecting culture in a different way. As discussed, Television is still evolving; its identity is unstable (not fixed). Its difficult to define what television is and what it will be in near future and what changes it will pose to the culture. Urichho (2004) discusses the difficulties approaching TV as he cites Heath (1998; Urichho : 2004,165) who states increasing inadequacy of existing terms and standards of analysis bounds TV with a specific bound of representation, a certain coherence of object and understanding TV in a complex social-political-individual meaning. TV as flow has been transformed by everyday technologies, economy and by network channels posing specific bearing on culture. To conclude, flow is an essential concept for the growth of television as a culture in a society. Although, many scholars has interpreted flow in different ways, but the concept of flow remains vital to the critical understanding of the medium. . 1.3.2 The changing television The convergence of broadcast model and broadband has defeated traditional appointment based television and has produced a new avatar of the medium. The series of transformation in the medium has changed television over the time, changes in terms of distribution of TV content across different media platforms due to technological convergence and changes in TV content to gratify entertainment needs of varied niche social sets of audience. The broadcasting model in no terms can be stated as single technological medium, thereby affecting social and cultural practices that have grown around the medium over the time (Askwith: 2003). Mc Luhans( 1978) living room experience refers to the culmination of social experiences among family members (audience) lasting an evening. When TV became a product of convergence culture, TV audience discovered new ways to engage with TV content via internet, mobile phones and I phones. Personal computers when added to techno mix convergence; TV audience got a platform to expand their social experiences across variety of channels and engaged themselves with TV content as never before. Loyal viewers used these platforms to contemplate about and discuss varied things about TV content such as characters, plots, locations etc resulting in a never ending collective intelligence (Jenkins: 2000) that engage users in different ways across different social platforms. The distribution of TV text to different channels (mediums) and platforms has designed content as malleable packages in accordance to varied media outlets. Jenkins (2000: 95) describes such a phenomenon as transmedia storytelling, as he explains TV content in the present era is more of a story telling experience involving viewers in different ways. He discusses about popular media franchises such as the matrix, Harry potter, Star Wars and states that such media content are entertainment for convergence age that integrates multiple texts to form a single narrative where each text lays its own individuality and originality. In other words, a transmedia content when unfolds to different media outlet, each text (medium) should be able to contribute solely to respective media franchise, for instance in Matrix a film offers a more immediate rapport with audience where as matrix game would involve players in much different way as experienced in film. Thus it reveals that each medium has got different characteristics and engage audience in different ways. Distribution of TV text across different channels gives rise to new experiences and new ways of engagement with the medium. Not only changes in modes of distribution have contributed much to the changed broadcast model of TV, but also its content has transformed over the years. Mapplebleck (1998) describes a general shift from general formats of TV shows such as current affairs, daily show to a more factually based light entertainment programs. This shift was a direct result of changes in culture -media and popular culture, and the space shared by media and social publics. Although, network channels produce TV text in accordance with the entertainment needs of the audience, but experiments on new ideas and concepts play a vital role in gratifying entertainment needs of existent audience and grabbing new audience. The biggest implication of convergence has been the distribution of national identity content to global media markets thereby removing the boundaries of exclusivity and availing content on multiple channels has resulted in cross-cultural interaction ( Jenkins : 2000). Indian Idol much on the lines of American Idol (reality show on Sony TV India) has become a hybrid format in many countries, with a tint of socio-cultural frameworks practiced at each place. Such experiments with the broadcast model have lifted audience from the monotonous everyday routine soap operas to range of interesting formats that are completely new to them. This phenomena has been described as a shift towards first person media (Dovey: 2000) and a post documentary culture (Corner: 2000). With changes in content, there have been major changes in the production techniques to engage audience at different levels of pre production, production and post production. New production practices with TV literate fans have fo stered changes in the way fiction series construct story world (Scones: 2008:67). Sometime various textual strategies are employed for a direct interaction between producers and audience to build rapport with audience. Network channels apply strategies like distribution of content to various platforms, content management and changes in production techniques to engage audience in different ways at different levels, for instance, CBS has become the most viewable network by telecasting some formulaic crime and drama series like survivors and early days of CSI (Lotz: 2007:215). Jenkins (2000:25) adds Survivor is a TV for internet age-designed to be discussed dissected, debated, predicted and critiqued. Survivors (reality show on CBS) brings a new lively format where contestants competes in side the show and show lovers (audience/fandom) competes outside as spoilers to leak the information inside out. The transformation in TV content has affected audience activities and engagement with the medium in numerous ways, moving to a lean forward approach other than sit back approach as practiced by passive audience (Urichho: 2004). Fiske (1987:73) confronts the concept of TV audience as passive consumers and states; television audience might be incapable of influencing the content of TV programs, but the involvement with medium requires significant forms of audience engagement, such as individual viewer interpret TV text in accordance with socio-cultural frameworks to construct meanings to the text, social viewers (set of social group ex family, friends) that discuss TV text with friends and peers to find shared meanings and insights of cultural significance. Corner (1999) explains the pleasure of para-sociability, the enjoyment and excitement we derive from discussing TV content, Jenkins (2000) terms those discussion as water cooler conversation, a natural desire to discuss, express and exchange ideas. However, varied content appears on living room screen and all must not be relevant to an individual or a set of social group. Content must do more than to appear on TV to distinguish itself for better cultural relevance. ( Lotz, 2007:35). She suggests phenomenal TV that lays on the foundation of selected themes and topics that appears on multiple or varied outlet. Programs that achieve special conversation and break the cluttered media are relevant; they gain attention by word of mouth and resonates culture in many ways. As discussed in this section TV has come long way from traditional broadcast model and activities such as distribution, malleable content and changes in production techniques has changed the medium and has produced a new avatar. Transmedia storytelling has distributed content at different platforms with varying technology (specific medium with specific technology ex matrix film {different technology} book {different technology}) and national identity content to be transformed and adjusted in accordance with socio-cultural framework (American Idol in US Indian Idol in India). 1.3.3 TV in the post network era L.A. Times cites post network era as age of fast food TV.(Times, 2005).As Amanda describes, Television as a medium to be organized around networks(Amanda D lotz,2007:5)Lynn spigel cites a more comprehensive phase of TV in the post network era, ( Spigel, Lynn and Olsson,2004:2) indeed, if TV refers to the technologies, industrial information, government policies and practices of looking that were associated with the medium in its classical public service and three network age, it appears we are now entering the phase that comes after TV. Lynn Spigel notes TV to be reinventing in numerous ways, new platforms, channels; multiplicity of visual text at alternative medium has given many ways to think, what TV will be? The way we are experiencing TV needs to be addressed and how we will perceive TV in future needs to be defined. The social aspects clubs with the cultural, economic and institutional aspect to define the broadcast model which vary from place to place. TV cultivates sociability in many ways, Lull (J.Lull:1990) described TV as a vital force in constructing and maintaining interpersonal relationship between family and social units interacting normatively. Antonio(2008) adds audience decodes message on the basis of their identity and background, he adds Media are hegemonic institutions that work to secure social consensus by incorporating dissent and conflict(Antonio Gramsci,2008) Lull and Antonios argument can be seen with reference to the potential social and cultural environment within the medium context, that facilitate sociability among the viewers in the post network era. Technological innovations and society as a whole have been affecting the ways and means viewers experience TV and entertainment in general. As Amanda D lotz cites websters (Amanda D lotz,2007:15) who argues programming multiplicity resulting in audience fragmentation and polarization as new media make content available at different mediums. Cable networks creat es audience loyalty by associating themselves with a kind of genre combining with old genres to niche demographics of TV(Turner, 2001:4-6). Necessary modification and adjustment in digital transition technologies has shifted TV in to a new horizon. Henry Jenkins (Henry Jenkins: 2000, Amanda D lotz :2007:7) calls it a post network era where convergence is intersecting the broadcast model and revolutionizing the society. But I argue TV is certainly not loosing its grab, but the ways and means which are employed by the viewer as in how and where to view has convoluted, how we think and understand TV. I would rather call it a hybrid medium, whose offerings are becoming unique and platforms to showcase those offerings are versatile. Though many contemporary TV scholars tried to figure out TV in the post network era, many relates it to a cultural experience others technology. William Urichhio, maps broad changes in TV technology from old TV console to smart TVsystem. (Urichhio,2008:163) . Michael Curtin relates TV on more cultural grounds and argues that TV needs to be studied cross culturally to understand how TV has evolved in different cultural, economical, and industrial and regulatory conditions.( Michael Curtin,2008:272-275). The entire culture to view TV has been transformed. During the network era (before post network), sources were scarce and no alternative ways were available to receive TV content other than the network channels. With the emergence of the post network era, the restricted access reduced and more options got available to choose from. Technical innovations ranging from recording programs on DVD to downloading videos has brought up a change, with new ways of distribution. Networks delivered content irrespective of what, when and where at a minimal cost resulted a revolutionized way to view content. Lynn Spigel notes changes in programming and sponsorship are met with similar changes in the entire culture of watching TV.(lynn Spigel,2008:5).Jenkins transmedia storytelling, explains TV content is so designed that appear on various media outlet subjects for a flexible consumption (Henry Jenkins,2000:25). Convergence among TV, phones , social platforms offered at internet, presents a limitles s expansion of television presence by enabling reception of TV content almost anywhere. (Amanda D lotz,2007:50). Social platforms such as daily motion and you tube has redefined the role of networks by harnessing online video content. You Tube, when launched streamed about 35 millions video a day and drew the double size of audience (Los angles times.com:2006). As Amnda T Lotz cites Adam Berry, VP of bright cove, who explains online videos as treasures, its not only meant to watch your favorite shows, but to watch whole bunch of stuff which you havent seen. (Amanda D lotz,2007:137). Convergence culture(2000) proposed by Henry Jenkins offers distribution of national identity content for global distribution limiting the boundaries of exclusivity resulting in availability of visual text on multiple platforms and resultant trans media culture. TV in the post network era has offered flexibility in what, when and where to view and has opened up a vast arena to the audience, to practice TV viewing in different ways. TV text fuels a dominant way of thinking among its viewers; it communicates social beliefs and value of the society. I argue TV reincarnates with every technology, with every effort of Network/TV channel content to present diverse text across globe; making it available at different medium and viewers to make sense of visual text within the context of social, economic and cultural condition. The three elements which I described above; technology, Producers and viewers, moves in a cycle and has set the conditions for POST NETWORK era. 1.3.4Network/TV channel content on social network Social element might not be new to TV as J. Lull says, TV cultivates sociability in many ways (J.Lull:1990). But the concept of watching network/TV channel content online on social platforms has added a new social paradigm to television studies. Experiencing TV text with other functional tools embedded in social software like voice chat, peer ratings and integration with social media (networking sites) has engaged viewers in a unique innovative way. In past, many ethnographic researches have shown that people enjoy watching television as a part of socializing in groups. According to an ethnographic research conducted by Lora Oehlberg, Nicolas Ducheneaut, James D. Thornton, Robert J. Moore, Eric Nickell (2006), TV can foster multiple forms of sociability. To analyze the patterns of interaction of TV text, they categorized TV sociability as : direct (e.g. when chatting with friends and family while watching network channel content) or indirect (e.g. when discussing previously viewed programs). Mc luhans (1874) global village conveys the sense of synchronicity created by the electronic medium(TV radio) and the living room,he depicts an event where Television is ON, so as the sharing and continuous participation of members of living room, who discuss, debate and experience TV text in many ways. Mc Luhans(1874) global village highlights two factors that has formed the basis for communication in the current age: sociability in groups and simultaneity between the group and the medium. The idea of sociability and simultaneity in the internet age is same, what has changed is the positioning of participants and members, which has introduced complexities in the current communication process. Castells(2000) visionary idea of culture of real virtuality, explains this phenomenon better in which he explains we are not living in a global village, but in customized cottages globally produced and locally distributed. (Castells 2000: 370). Kitchen(1998) cites that one of the major outcome of internet is the interactivity of online relations based on reception of TV text. (Kitchen,1998:15). Henry Jenkins(2006) explains in convergence culture television provides fodder for so called water cooler conversations and online forums offer an opportunity for participants to share knowledge and expression (as original;Henry Jenkins, 2006:21). TV content leverage and integrate the wisdom of social networking, the combination of duo has resulted into a new type of interactive, participative and user-directed environment. Jenkins cites young people, forming communities using popular (social) media to expand their collective wisdom and from many types of publics (groups) to interact in an innovative unpredictable ways. For instance, in his very first chapter he takes us to the secret world of spoiling survivors, where he outlines the impact of reception of TV show survivors. He analyzes survivors fandom interaction with spoilers of the show calling it collective intelligence in practice.(Henry Jenkins, 2006:28).As he cites Pierre Levy who argues that one person might not know everything, everyone knows something that can bring some relevance to the discussion and leads to participation. (Henry Jenkins, 2006:26). In another case study, Jenkins(2006) discuss American Idol (a reality TV show made for audience participation). He cites participation in such communities not only leads to brand affiliation but empowers a control to assert their demands, which influences the show to move forward.( Henry jenkins:2006:80). American Idol popularity shows us the diversified context adopted by the network/TV channel producers to shape the programming and distribution to suit the consumption patterns of consumers. This reminds me of Derek Compare(2002) who says media content comes as malleable packages other than a seamless continuous narratives. The kind of changes introduced in programming gives a platform for interactivi ty and participation. Analyzing interactivity and participation jenkins writes, Interactivity refers to the ways that new technologies have been designed to be more responsive to consumer feedbackParticipation, on the other hand, is shaped by the cultural and social protocols (Henry Jenkins, 2006:137). So, the creators (content producers) decide interactivity, and users (content consumers) may interact with what is given where as participation allows users to become creators and consumers of the content. In this way both network operators and non network players create and capture value while dramatically changing how consumers interact about TV text on social platforms. With the rise of social platforms and new technological innovation, TV is changing. How we are experiencing TV is also transforming with introduction of online virtual communities (social publics) accessed by personal devices like mobile phone, I phones etc. Social publics form communities that extend beyond friends and peers, neighborhood, cities, countries, and across the continents. As Natalie Klym and Marie Jose Montpetit(2008:2) cites Robet putman(2000), who explains the phenomenon of social as a function of consuming and engaging in amusing activities in public spaces experiencing TV as Mc Luhans(1874) living room experience. Personalization of media device leads to granulation of media space where publics practice Mc Luhans(1874) living room experience on castells(2000) social morphology of networks. Putmans(2000) idea of social engagement contributes well to the TV experience on social networks and explains how individualization of technology enables contacts on social media. Emerging social platforms like joost , Hulu and many other embeds functional features like blogs, discussion forum , chat session and program rating to make online videos more meaningful and interactive. Facebook, orkut and Myspace has recently added video applications to adjust and adapt with more user generated environment. As Natalie Klym and Marie Jose Montpetit(2008:7) adds social network becomes a virtual operator performing a customized and personalized programming habits based on what a user or a community may like. For example, you tube automatically share an individual ratings, favorites, and more on Face book, Twitter, and Google Reader with YouTube Autoshare. (You tube). You Tube, a user generated social platform has grown accustomed to watch video on personal devices. Personal devices are paired and networked and results in a global virtual community, where every individual is interacting with every other. In this sense, personal devices (PC, laptop, I phone) etc and its personalization can be viewed as the foundation of new way to access TV content. Though still at early stage, but this new frontier of TV is evolving at a very faster pace and needs to be researched more. 1.3.5 Technology and social framework Technology has transformed the way, TV is today. Not only the structure, but TV as a medium, culture, industry has lot been changed since its inception. Though, TV has a long standing history with reference to technology; but my area of study concentrates on contemporary social technological innovations and models appropriate for understanding Tv text in relation to social media. Technology in simple terms: is by the people and for the people. As, Liela Green (2002:3) suggests that society is responsible for the development and deployment of particular technologies. Social determinism counters the notion of technology determinism and states society develops technology for the benefit and progress of human kind. I agree to Liela greens view and present an account Mc luhans technological determinism theory to mark the flaws that disturbs the ways in which society and technology interact. The appeal and problems can be viewed in light of a technological determinism theory by Mcluhan(Mc,luhans,1964) where he attempted to explore how culture is affected through various types of media? McLuhan believed that advances in technology of a medium will lead to change in a culture (Mc luhan,1964). From this, McLuhan states that a culture is affected by a kind of medium are being employed, that can be TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. Each medium defines, it own kind of standards like, in order to get information one can turn on TV, which is the most dominant form and can easily be absorbed by ear and eyes where as obtaining news over the Internet on the other hand can make the process complicated for those who are not computer literate. And in that case, if a person cannot translate experiences into the conscious then those experiences will be repressed and the message will be lost. Such was the case with, Alltop, which launched its Personalized Feed Reader. Alltop is an online magazine rack that